1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to headers for crop harvesting machines and, more particularly, is directed to a header having a crop consolidating component to which may be detachably mounted interchangeable crop gathering components.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many types of crop harvesting headers are available on the market today, some of the most common being a windrow pickup type, a row-crop type and a reel-sicklebar type. Generally these headers are adapted to be attached to a harvesting machine, such as a forage harvester, a combine harvester or similar such machines for performing a specific harvesting operation.
For instance, the attachment of a windrow-pickup header to a forage harvester enables the harvester to harvest such crops as hay, alfalfa, etc. which have been previously cut and windrowed whereas the attachment of a row crop header enables the harvester to harvest standing crops planted in rows, such as corn and sorghum.
To date, these different types of crop headers have been of a unitary structure or construction generally including a forward crop gathering component that gathers the crop from the field and delivers the same rearwardly to a crop consolidating component that transfers the gathered crop to the harvesting machine. The crop gathering component customarily distinguishes one type of crop header from another whereas the crop consolidating component is the same or is common to many different types of headers.
However, because of the unitary structure or construction of these different headers, each has its own crop consolidating component which results in a disadvantage duplication of parts and thereby higher cost with respect to each header.